Etymologically

suile

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [suˈiː.ɫɛ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [suˈiː.le][1]

Forms

suīle n (genitive suīlis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sūs (“pig”) + -īle.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro (116–27 BC) has it in De lingua Latina (8.54), meaning a pigsty.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Columella uses it for a sty in his work on farming (7.9.14).[5][3][6] It lived on in medieval Latin, where Niermeyer records it with the variants suale and the feminine suilla.[7] It survives in Old French soil.[1]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for a pigsty.[3][4]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it in his farming manual.[5][4]
  • 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours has the word.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pigsty, an enclosure for pigs.[2][5][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill